Israeli security authorities have arrested Palestinian human rights defender Ameer Makhoul and placed him in detention.

Ameer Makhoul was arrested on 6 May 2010 at 3:10 a.m. when Israeli Security Agency (ISA) agents accompanied by Israeli police raided his family home in Haifa. Mr. Makhoul, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, serves as the General Director of Ittijah – The Union of Arab Community-Based Associations, a Palestinian human rights organization that holds special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

According to Mr. Makhoul’s family, the 16 ISA agents and police officers immediately separated Mr. Makhoul from wife Janan and daughters Hind, 17 and Huda, 12, and conducted an extensive search of their home. According to Janan, the police confiscated items including documents, maps, the family’s four mobile phones, Ameer and Janan’s laptops, the hard drives from the girls’ two desktop computers, a camera and a small tape recorder containing un-transcribed oral histories Janan collects as part of her work. At one point during the police search, Janan says, one officer violently restrained her, twisting her arm and pushing her when she attempted to leave the home’s living room to observe the confiscations. The security forces also refused to identify themselves and showed her a warrant authorizing Mr. Makhoul’s arrest only after she repeatedly insisted. The order was signed on 23 April 2010 and cited unsubstantiated “security” reasons as the grounds for Mr. Makhoul’s arrest.

Meanwhile, approximately 40 minutes after their arrival, a group of the security forces left with Mr. Makhoul in custody. At around the same time, the Israeli authorities raided the Ittijah office and confiscated documents and the hard drives from all of the organization’s computers.

Ameer Makhoul’s arrest comes shortly after Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai signed an administrative order prohibiting Mr. Makhoul from exiting the country for a two month period. In the order, which was signed on 21 April and is based on Article 6 of the 1948 emergency regulations, Yishai states, “I have reached the conviction that the exit of Ameer Makhoul from the country poses a serious threat to the security of the state, and therefore I issue this order to prevent him from leaving the country until the 21st of June, 2010”.

However, Mr. Makhoul’s case is only one example amidst a recent escalated campaign by Israeli authorities against Palestinian human rights defense and civil resistance. In addition to arbitrary arrest and detention, Israeli authorities have met Palestinian human rights activism in recent months with a variety of measures, including raids, deportations, travel bans, visa denials and media attacks against NGOs.

Sign the petition!

To Israeli Minister of the Interior Eli Yishai and other Israeli authorities
We view Ameer Makhoul’s arrest, detention and travel ban as deliberate violations of fundamental freedoms, particularly freedoms of movement, expression, association and non-violent assembly, and of the special protections owed under international law to human rights defenders. Furthermore, insofar as Mr. Makhoul’s arrest warrant and travel ban order are based on emergency regulations and “secret” information that is never disclosed to the defense, we consider them to be arbitrary political actions in violation of fundamental due process principles and human rights standards.

We therefore strongly condemn Mr. Makhoul’s arrest, detention and travel ban and call for his immediate, unconditional release and the ban’s immediate suspension.

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Marcy Newman,

Linda Jansen,

Sylvia Schwarz,

Diane Adkin,

frigga Karl,
the repression of the palestinian people is the biggest human scandal since the WWII. We are witness of the most savage behaviour of a state who calls itself "democratic" and is in reality a terrorist state since its existence. This state must be banned from the worlds community as long as its government behave like dangerous gangsters.

Loreta Wood,

Elizabeth Burr,

Dr. Edwin E Daniel,
Israel is behaving incresaingly like a fascist nation would behave. If it wants the high regard of the world it must stop and begin by releasing Mr. Makhoul, a human rights defender.

Patricia Deane,

Hermann Dierkes,
The ongoing detention of Ameer Makhoul is a deliberate violation of international legal standards, procedures and human rights
Hermann Dierkes, president of the local parliamentary group of the party The Left (DIE LINKE), Duisburg/Germany

Timothy A. King,

hilda meers,
My Jewish parents fled oppression;I am shocked at current Israeli policies which oppress and arbitrarily arrest those like Mr. Makhoul who dare to speak their minds

Nicolas Desreumaux,

Maureen Murphy,

Yves JARDIN,
The way you are treating Mr Makhoul is an intolerable way of tyranny. He must be released immediately.

Pat Sheehan,
End the injustice

Helena mangas Rivas,
Release Ameer

Marjorie Suisman,

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Mary Johnson,
I cannot understand why any country claiming to be a democracy would arrest one of its own citizens for heading a human rights organization! Further, why was this man denied access to legal counsel for so long? If he is not charged with any crime, and has not been given the opportunity to defend himself, he should be released at once.

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philippe de henau,
stop occupation.
stop gaza's blokade

Hugh Harkin,
You are doing great harm to the image of Israel internationally, and this ultimately means you are doing great harm to Israel.

nadia,
stop à l'injustice

Raskinet A-M,

xxxxxxxx,
Stop oppression!

xxxxxxxx,

David Cronin,

Annie Goossens,

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 22nd, 2010 at 7:15 am and is filed under Welcome to Addameer.info. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.